The eight most hazardous metals listed in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or "RCRA" (often pronounced "Rick-ra") are arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, and silver - AKA the "RCRA Eight". Electronic Waste is the ONLY waste stream that contains ALL EIGHT of these potentially hazardous materials. E-Waste fails the TCLP test (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure), which basically means that when moisture comes in contact with discarded electronics those RCRA metals begin to dissolve into the groundwater to be mobilized into our streams and lakes, into our wildlife and game, and finally into us.
Discarded electronics often end up in landfills or incinerated instead of being properly recycled. That means the lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazards found in these products can contaminate our land, water and air. Sadly, countless tons of U.S. E-Waste are also exported to developing nations each year through a loophole in the export laws. Places like Guiyu, China have been devastated by illegal 'recycling' operations. Piles of electronic scrap line the ditches and float in the areas water supply, and drinking water now has to be trucked in. Villagers break up monitors by hand for the glass, melt circuit boards with hand torches in search of gold, and light mounds of wire ablaze to melt off the insulation and recover the copper. The Basel Action Network deserves our thanks for exposing these stories.
Sarah Westervelt is the Toxics Research Analyst for the Basel Action Network and is currently focusing exclusively on the electronic waste issue. She researched and co-authored the report "Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia", and assisted in the development of the film by the same name. With a Master's degree in Organizational Systems Renewal, Sarah worked as an organizational development consultant for years before joining BAN. In a recent email exchange, I told Sarah of a call I got from a Madison area recycler who wanted to process for us. They told me they send all their E-Waste to China, offering as explanation:
"well that's where all the electronics come from . . . "
Sarah's reaction was;
“China needs clean commodities (pure copper, aluminum, etc.) to manufacture the world’s gadgets, not toxic waste. In fact, it is illegal for them to accept this waste stream from the US, because China has ratified the Basel Convention, and the US has not. And China has some additional domestic laws that ban the import of much electronics. They’re now setting up systems to try and stop this illegal traffic.”
OK, electronics are potential hazardous wastes under the law. So why are they being discarded in these ways?
Follow The Money.
It's cheaper to burn or bury, and more profitable to export than to Recycle E-Waste.
More than 4.6 million tons of E-Waste entered U.S. Landfills in the year 2000, and that amount has estimated to have grown at least fourfold in the past few years. It's estimated that less than 10% of electronics are currently being recycled.
If we recycle all our E-Waste in the U.S., we'll divert more than 20 million tons per year from our landfills while at the same time dramatically reducing their levels of RCRA metals. We'll create jobs and reclaim material resources for use in manufacturing new products. We'll protect our precious groundwater, air and soil. Support of Responsible Electronics Recycling is long overdue.
